Front end:
Ok, at this point in the build we're up to about the end of April (~5-6 weeks ago), and I admittedly did not do nearly as good a job documenting as I did earlier in the project. So pics are going to be a bit more sporadic.
I had replaced the stock steering bearings right when I got the bike with tapered rollers. I managed to get them off the stem and out of the neck tube before sending off for powder coating without mucking them up, so I greased 'em up and put them back to install the trees and fork ears (wish I had done a better job blocking the chaos of my basement!)
I actually thought the stock bars on the bike were really comfortable and looked pretty nice. The chrome was a bit pitted on mine, so I decided I would try to find a decent set of OEM-type. Found a brand new repro set on EBay and when I got them I was very surprised to learn that my old bars actually weren't stock haha. They had a bit of a swoop back, but turns out they didn't go back nearly as far as the actual originals. So turns out, I do NOT like the stock bars on this bike.Stock on left, mine on right.
I returned them, and then had to try to figure out what the heck I had. I don't know about you guys, but I have a real hard time measuring bars. And considering my bike was in pieces, I couldn't do what most recommend and mount them on the bike. After looking around and seeing some great threads here, I think I may have had "Euro bars"? (If anyone wants to take a look at the first posts in this thread and weigh in I'd be curious).
So I could definitely see getting another set of those (and my old ones are definitely usable in a pinch). But I also was really inspired by a pic that
@Downeaster had of his Special with Superbike bars (
http://www.xs650.com/threads/what-is-your-favorite-handlebars.23290/#post-227382), that I thought I would give that a try. These things are pretty badass!
Mine (top) and Superbike (bottom)
As for the controls, I bought new, my old ones were tired and a bit bastardized from the shoddy elec from the PO. I bought a RH from Mike's and I bought a LH NOS from an XS400 that I felt really confident would fit. It had a turn signal canceling unit, but looking at the wiring diagram, I knew it would be no problem to bypass. I drilled up the bars and carefully filed the holes to make sure they were super smooth. Added some heat shrink around the wiring bundles as well to act as some extra grommeting.
As for the forks, I had replaced the seals right after getting the bike, so I was in good shape there. I gave the lowers a trip on the buffing wheel with a tripoli compound and popped on some new dust covers. Here's the front end mocked up:
It's coming along!
Note the components that sandwich the fork ears ("Guide, cover under" and "Guide, cover upper" in the parts manual) and hang over the lower tree ("Cover, outer") were originally chrome in the first set of pics above. I cleaned them up, but they were still a bit pitted and I just couldn't get them to look good. So I decided to try a silver powder coat in my home kit, and I think they came out pretty nice. It's not really reflective at all, but it's an even finish, and while I'd probably prefer the chrome, I thought this was a reasonable compromise considering I couldn't find any worth pursuing on Ebay. Up close you can definitely see that they aren't chrome, but they do a nice approximation from a short distance (good look at them in the last pic above)
I actually ended up doing this same silver powder coat treatment on the speedo/tach cups, which were also in pretty rough shape, and again, I think they're decent looking in the context of the bike (could have been smoother had I sanded beforehand, opposed to just degreasing)